Independent report contradicts upbeat NATO assessment of civilian deaths in Afghanistan

International military forces must take urgent steps to protect civilians caught up in the escalating conflict as they plan for the handover of responsibility for security to the Afghan government, warned leading aid agencies today. A panel of 29 aid agencies has released a report asserting that the Afghan government can "barely access one third of the country" and that growing violence is negatively impacting aid work. 

The agency report, called "Nowhere to Turn - The Failure to Protect Civilians in Afghanistan", said this year was the most deadly for Afghan civilians since the Taliban regime fell nine years ago and the coalition's rush for "quick fix" strategies threatened to exacerbate insecurity.  

While the report states that anti-government groups cause most Afghan civilian casualties, it warns that NATO military tactics are continuing to put Afghan lives at risk. The agencies in particular warn about the rise in air strikes by NATO forces in recent months.  

Ashley Jackson of Oxfam, the author, said: "NATO forces have tried to present an upbeat picture of what is going on, but I don't think the people of Afghanistan see that. Certainly the figures don't show that."  

"More civilians are being killed and injured than ever before and Afghanistan is more insecure than at any time in the past nine years," said Farhana Faruqi-Stocker of Afghanaid. "We are concerned that unless urgent steps are taken now, the violence will continue to escalate and civilian suffering will only increase."  

In Lisbon tomorrow, NATO leaders will be joined by Hamid Karzai, government figures of all 50 countries engaged in the Afghan campaign, and Ban Ki-moon, the UN chief. Exit strategy and transition to Afghan ownership are the key topics. However, the agency report says that "Afghan soldiers and police are poorly trained and command systems are weak" and that the speed at which NATO is building the police and army left the system open to abuses such as theft, extortion and "indiscriminate" killing.  

Political leaders in Lisbon are seeking to chart a transition plan being effected from next summer and aiming for a main evacuation of foreign forces by 2014-15. But the aid agencies are urging NATO to do more to improve the training and monitoring of Afghan national security forces during the transition period.  

Nader Nadery, Commissioner for the Afghan Independent Human Rights Commission, said: "Recent revelations of abuses by Iraqi security forces and militia – and the fact that we are already seeing abusive behaviour by militias in Afghanistan - should be sounding a warning bell. There is still time to get the right controls in place in Afghanistan. But NATO must act now."  

The agencies are also calling on NATO to abandon the so-called "community defense initiatives", which involve supporting local militia groups to fight the Taliban. They say that recruits are barely vetted, receive little training and are often accountable only to the local commanders. Far from helping to stabilise the country, they are likely to contribute to the growing instability.  

Signatories to the report are ACSF, ACTED, Action Aid, ADA, Afgana, Afghanaid, AIHRC, AMI, AWN, AWSDC, CAFOD, CHA, Christian Aid, CIVIC, CoAR, Cordaid, CPAU, DACAAR, HRRAC, Ibn Sina, ICCO, INTERSOS, NRC, Open Society Foundation, Oxfam, Peace Direct, SMO, Tearfund, War Child UK.